The producers joined Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb in the third hour of the show to talk about the process of transforming their hit History Channel miniseries, The Bible, on which Son of God is based, into a feature film, which is being released by 20th Century Fox on Friday.

Both Downey and Burnett said they had a feeling while they were shooting the miniseries that they might be able to turn the part about the life of Jesus Christ, the focus of Son of God, into a movie.

"We knew when we were shooting The Bible series that as the Jesus narrative began to unfold, that we had something spectacular," Downey said, noting that they shot some additional footage for the film.

Burnett added: "We had huge hopes that America, one nation under God, would embrace the Bible series." Indeed, the miniseries was a ratings hit.

Downey also talked about how she and Burnett even reached out to the Anti-Defamation League to make sure they presented the story in a way that was sensitive to the Jewish community.

"We have worked across denominations and reached out to the Jewish community through [national director] Abe Foxman at the ADL to make sure that we told this movie sensitively, setting up political and historic context, presenting the story in a way that really just emphasized the love of Jesus, and Mr. Foxman gave us a great endorsement from the ADL," Downey explained.